Curation, Curation, Curation: Playlists.net acquired by Warner Music

Last week we learned that Playlists.net, the UK-based playlist-sharing service that some of you may still remember as ShareMyPlaylists, has been acquired by Warner Music Group.

One could understandably wonder: why would a major label want to acquire a site that by definition makes use of music from all over the world including that of other majors and independents? The question is one of positioning. Universal Music has done something similar with Digster, which provides users with curated playlists that they can subscribe to via services like Spotify and that are constantly updated. Establishing a relationship with users on streaming services is extremely important to labels and whilst Digster does contain a wide spectrum of content including tracks from Warner Music and Sony, it also gives Universal a platforms to push new material to hundreds of thousands of users.

A key difference in the case of Playlists.net is the fact that the playlists are curated by consumers, which has allowed the site to scale and reach over a million users per month who streamed - according to the company’s July stats - over a billion tracks. Now the question mark is going to be if and how Warner plans to influence the site in order to highlight its own content, given that the playlists are user-generated.
Playlists.net’s founder Kieron Donoghue stated that the two companies realised that there was “so much to be gained by us joining forces”, but as the plans are for them to remain separate entities it seems like Warner is willing to take it slow and avoid making radical changes that would risk alienating the all-important user-base of the service.

The financial details of the transaction have not been disclosed but Playlists.net had only raised around £600k so far and is still a pretty nimble operation so this is a strategic acquisition that is unlikely to have made a big dent in Warner’s bottom line.

Back in August Warner Music reported an increase of 18.9% in revenues over the previous year even though losses widened. A key number from the company’s financial report was that, on the recorded music front, digital made up 45.6% of revenues. As download sales are dropping sharply in the US, Warner needs to ensure that it can maximise the income from streaming services and that it has a solid infrastructure in place to draw listeners to its content, something that Playlists.net can contribute towards.

Sure, Playlists.net could have also been acquired by a streaming service or by a third party content portal interested in gaining credibility in the music arena, but in both instances that would have probably resulted in the site itself disappearing from sight. Thanks to the Warner acquisition Playlists.net has ensured that it will continue to develop and grow as a brand: after all we’re still in the early stages of the “streaming music era”.


(Andrea Leonelli)